The art show was small but with very nice pieces. Lots of K/S (by a then 'up and coming illustrator' named Shelley Butler and several LovettWiseguy pieces.

There was a three-hour turkey read of fanfiction in a private room party by Virgule-L. From the program book: "Those insane girls from the Pacific Northwest will be having a party in their room on Saturday night. Look for signs in the Con Suite to direct you there. They promise a good time for all, and plenty of 'Sex in the Rain'."

Programming

Anatomy of a Fan Feud, led by Christine and Jennifer, "Fandom is a relatively small world, which seems to be repeatedly stirred up by virulent fights. Are we all just drama queens, are we doing it for fun, or what? Also, quick tips, how to start one, how to keep it burning, how to try to put it out."

Wiseguy: Birth of a Fandom, led by Lynn and Sandy, "Wiseguy is no longer the baby of the fandom, but it's still relatively new. How dis very early writing set the tone and/or direction of the fandom. What can we expect in the future?"

K/S: What's New, led by Sandra and Bill, "K/S is the oldest fandom, and for most of us, where we started. What's going on in the fandom now, what are those of use who've lost track of our first love missing?"

Song Video Roundtable, led by Kandy and DeeJay, "Bring works in progress or finished works you're having difficulty with for a quick jump-start. Open to anyone who enjoys videos as well as the people who make them."

Fandom in a Vacuum, led by Heather and Marion, "Where do slash ideas come from? How come people come up with it on their own, and others of us need to be led to the light? What are the unifying elements, that make these individual fantasies 'slash'?"

Professionals: Romance without Mush, led by Marion and Melissa, "What makes a story 'romantic,'? What's 'mush'? A cynic's guide to 'Happily Ever After'."

Saturday:

Blake's 7: Is this Fandom Dying?, led by Marion and Cherri, and Mary-Alice, "If forty dedicated slashfen can't come up with a single topic for a panel, isn't that an indication that something's very wrong?"

Writing: the Craft (three-part workshop), led by Nancy and Joan

Mini-Panel: Holmes/Watson, led by Joanne, "Not just British, but smart too!"

Rock Music...Slash?, led by Jennifer and Sandy, "No guns, no spies, no life-threatening danger: why do people make up slash here?"

Research: How to and Why to, led by Meg, "Does being an amateur writer mean it's ok to have Bodie and Doyle pat each other's fannys?"

Professionals: Sturgeon's Law, Spider's Law, and the converse, led by Kathy and Sharon, "The proliferation of (bad) Pros zines: are they killing the library?"

Mini-Panel: Bakersfield PD, led by Meg, "The funniest send-up of all our favorite buddy-show cliches."

Mini-Panel: NYPD Blue, led by Constance, "Viewer discretion warnings: the surest way to insure a hit show. And isn't that Kelly cute?"

K/S: How has it changed?, led by Alayne and Kathy, "How has K/S changed its progress from the slash fandom to a slash fandom?"

Wiseguy: Heroes or Anti-Heroes?, led by Sandy and Sammie, "Are there any absolute boundaries these characters won't cross?"

Mini-Panel: Patilliro, led by Bonnie, "Hair fandom at its peak, and openly gay boys to boot!"

Publishing Adult/Slash zines, led by Eileen, "These days, anyone with a computer and a credit card can publish a slash zine. What does it take to do it well?"

Men in Slash, led by Henry Jenkins and Lynn, "What do these guys have to do to prove they're real slash fans?"

Mini-Panel: Highlander, led by Sandy, "Okay, so it's not a slash fandom, but at least they killed Tessa."

Best of Classic Angst/New Sontapes, "Thanks to Kandy and all our contributors"

Boys, Boys, Boys, Boys!!!! (vid show? strippers? 10:00 pm)

Sunday:

Art Auction, presided by Shoshanna and Marion

Outdumbing James Bond: Spy Shows of the 60s, led by Colleen and Nicole, "Man from U.N.C.L.E., Wild Wild West, I Spy, Get Smart: Are silly action plots easier to write? Less fun to read?"

Changing Nature of Fannish Communication, led by Nancy and Sandy, "E-mail, and virtual zines, computer video editing and morphing -- all the new toys at our disposal..."

Quantum Leap: Beyond the Last Episode, led by Jane, "What Bellasario has torn asunder, fandom will put back together..."

Gay Press, led by Constance and Christine, "Are there slash-like books out there and we just haven't heard of [them]?"

Songvid Editing, led by Jennifer and Sandy, "Authors get edited and usually have to do at least one rewrite of a story. Artists have erasers. What stops songvid makers from doing drafts and re-edits of their work? Let's talk about editing style (what cuts to use for best emphasis) and technique (how to physically do the inserts.)"

New SF/Adventure Shows, Open Discussion: Babylon 5, Viper, The New Knight Rider, Tek Wars, Time Trax, SeaQuest DSV. "Programmers are putting a bunch of new shows out there with a stunning variation in quality. Let's gab, shout, pimp for your favorite show."

Dead Dog Party -- "Everyone come by, hang out 'til you have to go home, bring your leftovers to share. Pic, up comments sheets to give feedback on Escapade '94."

Technology and Fandom Panel

"The technology in fandom panel actually jumped around quite a bit (I definitely recall hearing the words "segue from hell" more than once ((usually from me--Sandy))), and it included several things that people can now do in-home that they couldn't do five years ago: cutting and splicing songs on Macintosh computers (to remove inappropriate choruses, verses, or the word "girl"); the soon-to-be-easier ability to select different people from different clips and combine them onto a new background (also for songtapes); printing vhs video frames directly to computer screens, printers and/or color copiers (for fun); and zines and/or libraries on disk. Most of the new technology possibilities were followed by comments that the actual work we can do is illegal (i.e. "sampling" a song by changing it or cutting pieces of it). Which comments were followed by the statements that seventeen years ago, writing and publishing a slash fanzine was illegal....
Regarding the list proper, Sandy announced the list's existence and invited people to talk to her if they were interested in joining. I don't know how much response she got. ((This is Sandy--I actually got none specifically from the panels, but a few people who are good friends (or relatives like N's sister) of people already on the list, talked to me at different times throughout the con about getting accounts or modems, and telling me they wanted to--probably 4 or 5 in all.))"

Convention Reports

In 1994, Nicole V. wrote and posted a convention report to the Virgule-L mailing list. It is reposted here with permission:

"And so yet another month has passed. I've wanted, nay, I've promised to write something about Escapade panels. So I am, instead of doing all the homework I've put off for 8 weeks.

The odyssey began: Blackbird and I flew into LA and rented a car Thursday evening. We drove out to Goleta after visiting with Agnes T. and dozens of kaleidoscopes in Beverly Hills.
The Alamo commercial is right: LA feels familiar because so much of it shows up in the media (maybe Vancouver, BC, will someday be as familiar!). Rush hour traffic in the dark and rain, and a poorly kept road. But Blackbird's lived in New York, and it didn't faze her. We shared accommodations with Snady, Rachel Sabotini, and Heather Gladney. Great group! The light sleepers have discovered comfortable earplugs and thus slept well. Thank gohd Joan Martin found the espresso place: withdrawal is not a pretty sight!

Shoshanna let me work in the art show - which had an amazing amount of StarDreck art, beautiful pieces. Very few pieces went to auction. A lovely Suzi Lovett original color, of a mostly-clothed Roger Lococco, went to DJ Driscoll, a well-known despiser of Wiseguy, but who really loves William Russ. There was vicious rumour that she bought it to burn it, but rest assured, the picture is ensconced over her fireplace (I saw it there last weekend).

I didn't get to as many panels as I wanted (so what else is new), but the following is what I remember from those I did attend. Or 'co-chair'. Misstatements, opinion and false memories are all my own; if you were there, your mileage may have varied. (I do remember that I wished I'd made the Fanfeuds panel: they named names, some of whom were in the room. And one of my abiding areas of curiosity and research is the B7 fan war.)

Is B7 a Dying Fandom? I came in late, but this was really a discussion on why are there fewer B7 stories being written? No comparison was made to story quantity in other fandoms, just to B7 then-and-now. No conclusions but a couple of ideas that emerged: either it's too hard, or not hard enough. The universe is a complex one, with several possible relationships between characters who are not easily described. Perhaps some writers therefore find it more difficult to write in. Writing within the story line is a challenge; OTOH, there may be less need to invent events since the series provides really juicy ones to explore, thereby making writing less of a challenge, or at perhaps less interesting, especially for the AUers. Those in attendance, tho, were adamant in their devotion. As M. Fae said, "I'm not finished with these characters yet!" And a Good Thing, too.

Men in Slash - again I was late (sitting in the bar, probably, chatting, listening to Spanish language TV in the background while the staff ate lunch, and did not serve us. Well, the bar door was open, but the bar was not). This panel was very well attended, all chairs were in use, and standing room only was available. About all I recall readily is that the
two Men in Question, Lynn and Henry Jenkins, disagree about a lot, amiably, eloquently and often. (One question I found to be ludicrous: Do men *really* have feelings? asked with all seriousness by Pat Patera of the infamous Checkers. No, she wasn't joking. Yeah, Pat, men only have emotions in slash.) I left the crowded circle and took my place at the Art Show desk.

Slash and Technology: we talked for an hour and a half, and could have happily gone on. Discussion roved from this list through copywrite (music, video, word, creative) to propagation. Seems multimedia equipment makers are very interested in songvids; reports are that pros are always blown away by what fans do with simple VCRs. The range of the Internet is always amazing, and the access points are multiplying like, like packets in flood routing (that's a network joke. I'm supposed to be studying right now). Easy desktop publishing and cheaper repro drive up zine quality and drive down costs. For example, Avon Calling III has several lovely drawings, and a color xerox, as well as nice layout. $20. Another publisher is contemplating similar content, for around $10.) BTW, why hasn't the common Russian term 'samizdat' gotten into general use in fandom? It means self-published, and is how most subversive Soviet literature was distributed for 70 years.

Rachel Sabotini and I held a conversation with about 5 other folk on TV of the 60's and its attractions. We were supposed to talk about Outdumbing James Bond, but the buddy shows that people remember became the topic. I was surprised by the fervor of a couple of older (well, my age or a little older) women who found that "real good guys vs. real bad guys" was what they missed most: no ambiguity about right and wrong, and the hero always wins. (I don't miss it at all. But then, I like B7.) Discussion was enhanced by the songvids we'd seen the night before; there was shock as scenes from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, narrated by schmaltzy love songs, were reinterpreted with the slash filters. Ah, that pesky subtext!

far too fast, and the flight home was far too long. Now how can I get to Media West ... Detroit's expensive, maybe hitch from Chicago, huh? Oh, I have to pay to get *to* Chicago, too? Why can't I just be patient and wait for Virgule? It's in Seattle, after all. Why, indeed? 'Cause I miss ya'll."

In 1994, a mono-K/S fan who had written a critical convention report for Escapade 1993, offers up a (slightly) more mellow report for 1994 that, once again seems to have little to do with the convention itself:

”Well guys, I went to Escapade this year and the second time is lots better than the first! A number of reasons: I know a lot more people now after more than a year in fandom. Also, there were more K/Sers there. And I'm more familiar with multi-media.

That doesn't mean I like it any better. I still can't understand for the life of me, IDIC notwithstanding and all that, why anyone would prefer two ordinary men - (take your pick: there are countless pairings) over Kirk and Spock. I mean look what K/S is - not just two men (excuse the expression, but this is really where it's at for the most part) fucking, but a whole range of experiences that we draw upon: spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and yes, sexual. And from what I've seen, heard and read - the biggest draw to any other slash fandom (why do you think they call it "slash"?) is sex between the two men. Okay, romance is somewhere in there, but not by much.

I am not expressing this to put anyone's taste in zines or TV or fandom down. Honestly, some of my best friends are (gag) Pros fans, but I can see so much in K/S that I don't see in anything else, that it makes me want to explore why others leave K/S to join something else. To my knowledge, K/S was the first fandom of its type and evidently set the precedent for all the rest that followed. But why would anyone want to give up all the extraordinary beauty, intelligence, feeling and depth of K/S for two ordinary men fucking? Anyway [at the convention] lots of people asked, cajoled, wondered and hoped that I'd draw a nice Bodie and Doyle picture. Just because I ran screaming into the night is no reason to think the thought would bother me.”[2]